Jacquards' Web Read Online Free PDF Page A

Prototypes of the de Vaucanson loom worked reasonably well. A big problem, though, was that the metal cylinders were expensive and difficult to make. Moreover, by their very nature they could only be used for making images that involved regularly repeated designs. True, by switching to new cylinders it would be possible to produce designs of open-ended variety, but in practice the constant switching over of cylinders proved too time-consuming and laborious. A few examples of the de Vaucanson loom did go into production, but it never really caught on and was soon discontinued.
    By the late eighteenth century, the entire wealth and might of the Lyons silk-weaving industry—by far the largest silk-weaving industry in the world—was stymied by the fact that Lyons weavers did not have access to an efficient loom. They yearned for a machine that would allow a great deal more silk fabric to be woven in a day than the maximum one inch that could be produced by a weaver and draw-boy working flat out.
    The enforced lethargy of the rate of production kept Lyons weavers poor. Even the master-weavers who headed weaving studios, and the merchants who sold the fabric to wealthy customers, suffered hard times. The world craved a flood of Lyons silk, and all Lyons could offer was a slow trickle.
    18
    ● 3 ●
    The son of a master-weaver
    1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ❚ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
    2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ❚ 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
    3 3 ❚ ❚ 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
    4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ❚ 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
    5 5 5 5 5 ❚ 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
    6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 ❚ 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
    7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 ❚ 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
    8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 ❚ 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
    9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 ❚ 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ❚ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    The invention of Jacquard has produced a general and total revolution in the procedures for manufacturing; it has traced a great line between the past and the future; it has initiated a new era in general progress.
    The Count of Fortis,
    Éloge historique de Jacquard , 1840
    The wealth of Lyons today is founded on the city’s high-tech, banking, construction, chemicals, food, and printing industries.
    Many of the major Lyons corporations in these industries are headquartered in the district known as Part-Dieu, which is located to the east of the Rhône. The head offices often occupy some of the boldest and most original modern architecture in France.
    Part-Dieu even has its own skyscraper, the 165 -metre ( 541 -feet) Credit Lyonnais tower. Light-brown in colour, the tower looks like a giant cigar, as if symbolizing the lifestyles of conspicuous consumption to which the bank’s customers might hope to aspire.
    But not all districts of Lyons denote conspicuous consumption. If you leave the prosperity of the modern business area of 19
    Jacquard’s Web
    Part-Dieu behind you, cross the Rhône by bridge or ferry, and head for the district of Croix Rousse, you will encounter a very different atmosphere.
    The name Croix Rousse means ‘russet cross’ and derives from a large cross of local russet-coloured stone that could indeed be found at the very highest point of the district from the Middle Ages to the time of the French Revolution. For many centuries a mere backwater in Lyons, Croix Rousse rose to prominence in the early years of the nineteenth century, when the abundance of space it offered close to the city centre encouraged Lyons’s burgeoning weaving industry to move to the district. By the 1830 s, Croix Rousse was the heart of the world’s silk-weaving business.
    But the days when Croix Rousse was a riot of bustle, haste,